Nguyen Van Phu, 30, was sentenced to three years and six months for crime concealment, while Nguyen Bao Trung, 24, got six months for not reporting a crime.

Vo Sy Manh, 27, received a suspended sentence for extortion.

On April 17 last year, police found many sacks of 489.68 kg of heroin left by the 48B National Highway in Quynh Luu District in the central province. The sacks had been dumped by the three men.

Phu said he received a call from an acquaintance in Taiwan in February last year, asking him to interpret for a Taiwanese man. The next month, the acquaintance and the Taiwanese man told Phu to "rent a storage room to store goods before transporting them back to Taiwan."

Phu rented a storage room in Quynh Luu District. He then helped the Taiwanese man take 25 boxes from a car and keep it in the room.

Phu’s acquaintance later told him that the boxes contained damaged loudspeakers and asked him to let two other Taiwanese men come and fix them. Accordingly, Phu took the men to the storage room and left, whereupon the Taiwanese took around 494 packets of methamphetamine from the boxes and repacked them in several white bags.

On April 15 last year, Phu saw news reports that authorities had found a large amount of drugs hidden in boxes in the province. The boxes looked like the ones that he had helped store, so Phu asked the Taiwanese men about it. The Taiwanese told him to get the drugs out of the storage room, saying he would be held responsibe for them as the person who had rented the room.

Phu asked Trung to rent a truck and along with Manh, took the drugs out of the storage room and dumped them on the side of the 48B National Highway where they were later discovered by the police.

Manh, suspecting that Phu was carrying something illegal, extorted VND9 million ($387) from him. Trung knew Phu was disposing of the drugs, but did not report it to the authorities, the court heard. The court ordered Manh to return the money he had extorted from Phu.

Once the dugs were discovered by the police, the three men turned themselves in.

The Taiwanese involved in the case remain unidentified and left Vietnam last April. They are now internationally wanted criminals.